I received the following question from frugal friend Angela on Facebook.

Let’s help her out, and share some ideas!

“Do you know about canning salsa? I want to do some canning, and love a fresh salsa recipe. I know it has to be hot, but can I just heat my fresh salsa recipe and can it ‘as is”… or do I need to use a special ‘canning recipe’?”

So… what works for you??

Have you ever tried canning salsa, or do you have any salsa-canning tips??

Comments

You can use any recipe really. When canning, just make sure to clean off the lip of the jar so the lid will seal, put the jars in a water bath so that they are completely covered, heat until boiling, and then boil for 30 minutes to kill all the bacteria. We have canned salsa for years with this method and it works for us!

We have an old family recipe we use but honestly I am kind of lazy and I like to use those pre-made packages of all the spices to make things a bit easier although I add my own twist. I dumb the spice and vinegar and everything into the required amount of tomatoes but then I add things that aren’t in the recipe, some garlic, cilantro, chili powder for kick, finely finely chopped onions for flavor (in a food processor), a green paper or two blended and some jalapenos. Suppeeerrr good!

I would caution like others to use only canning recipes. Botulism aren’t killed off at 212 degrees like other bacteria. You need to make sure the acidity is up enough to keep that out. And then process as recommended to make sure everything else is gone and you have a good seal.

Hi! I love a good salsa! I hate the store-bought kinds, most of them miss out on the main ingredient, Cilantro! However, a few years I came across a recipe from Parade and have been making it ever since. Here’s what you’ll need for a small batch:
6 PLUM tomatoes
2 garlic Cloves
4 Serrano Chiles (seeded for mild heat)
1 small onion
Cilantro (1/2 cup chopped, more or less to taste)
Salt and lime juice

Cut off stem ends of Tomatoes and split lengthwise in half and place insides down onto a cookie sheet with sides. Place garlic and chiles and onion slice onto cookie sheet as well. Broil for 3-5 min till there is a blackening on the veges. Remove and place cilantro, salt and lime juice in blender and pulse
until desired consistency is reached.

Mine is usually still very hot at this point. Quite honestly it never lasts long enough to can, but I normally freeze them in ziploc containers when I’m making a larger batch. The water from the salsa will separate from the tomatoes so when I defrost one I just mix it back up.

PS- a restaurant once told me when they don’t have fresh tomatoes they use a can of plum tomatoes! I never knew!

mine is extremely simple. Since I have little kids that love it and I only want to use what comes from my garden. In my food processor I put in about 5 medium tomatoes, 2 green peppers, 1/2 an onion (mine were big this year) and that’s it! I blend it up then place it all in a pot and bring to a boil and boil for about 5 minutes then I put it in a jar and put the lid on (while mixture is still hot) The steam will form the seal and all the bacteria has been killed off already. So as long as your jar is sanitized before hand, you should be good to go!! 🙂

It is best to use a canning recipe because it has the correct ratio of lemon juice or vinegar to create the right acidity for canning. You can add or not use herbs and spices in a recipe, but the amount of lemon juice or vinegar has to be right.

My favorite canning recipes, I have gotten off of a website called pickyourown.org, they have pictures and step by step directions for each recipe.

I use my own recipe, but cook it for a few minutes and add a little lemon juice to each jar to add acidity when canning. Then, I can it using directions for the hot peppers since that has the longest processing time.

My fresh salsa is just chopped tomatoes, serrano chiles, onions, and cilantro. It is usually not soupy, but when I cook it to can it, it ends up being souply like the kind you buy in the grocery store. Not my preference, but it is still good in the winter when fresh tomatoes are hard to come by.